Dream Theater

About Dream Theater

Dream Theater is a progressive rock and metal band from Long Island, New York formed originally as Majesty by their three core members Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci and John Myung, the latter two of which have remained with the band since its inception in 1986. Other current members include James LaBrie and Jordan Rudess, and former members include Kevin Moore, Chris Collins, Charlie Dominici, Steve Stone, Chris Cintron and Derek Sherinian. On September 8, 2010, Mike Portnoy left the band and was replaced by Mike Mangini in April of 2011.

Dream Theater is considered a success in the progressive metal scene, as well as the vanguards of the genre. Although progressive metal bands tend to have no success in mainstream circles, Dream Theater have managed to cross over into the mainstream at points in their career, most notably with their top 10 hit Pull Me Under back in 1992. The band have since seen limited mainstream success, although they are currently gaining in popularity.

The band is well known for the technical proficiency of its instrumentalists, who have won many awards from music instruction magazines. Dream Theater’s members have collaborated with many other notable musicians. Guitarist John Petrucci has been named as the third player on the G3 tour six times, more than any other invited guitarist, following in the footsteps of Eric Johnson and Robert Fripp.

The band’s highest selling album is the gold selling Images and Words in 1992, which reached #61 on the Billboard 200 charts. Both the 1994 release Awake and their 2002 release Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence also entered the charts at #32 and #46 respectively and received mostly positive reviews. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence also led to Dream Theater becoming the initial band reviewed in the Music Section of Entertainment Weekly during its opening week of release, despite the magazine generally preferring more mainstream music. In 2007, Systematic Chaos entered the US Billboard 200 at #19. Their tenth studio album, Black Clouds & Silver Linings, was released on June 23, 2009 and entered the US Billboard chart at #6. They released their eleventh studio album A Dramatic Turn of Events on September 13th, 2011, which charted at #8 on the US Billboard 200. Their twelfth studio album, the self-titled Dream Theater, was released on September 24th, 2013, entering the US Billboard chard at #7, making it their 3rd consecutive top 10 debut. Their 13th studio album, The Astonishing, was released on January 29, 2016 and became the band’s first ever #1 album on the US Billboard Rock chart, and subsequently their 4th consecutive top 10 debut.

Dream Theater has sold over two million albums in the U.S. and over 8 million records worldwide.